BLUESHIFT touch-free, portable ultrasounds revolutionize trauma triage for first responders and battlefield medics
First responders and military medic personnel are expected to provide accurate and rapid emergency diagnoses and first aid in demanding or even hostile conditions. In these conditions, the ability to quickly assess wounds, size, location, and presence of shrapnel/debris in patients can be a matter of life and death.
Often, they need to make split decisions on traumatic wound triage, but do so without a complete picture of the injury.
Ultrasound laser technology is revolutionizing the way trauma triage is administered by providing simple, rapid diagnostics to military, first responder, and emergency personnel. Since 2003, U.S. special forces units have been outfitted with some form of portable ultrasound, and as ultrasound’s value has been proven over the years, demands to expand its use have grown. However, current ultrasound machines have limitations when it comes to portability, ease of use, the need for skin contact and pressure, and overall cost.
Traditional ultrasound requires pressure to be applied to the skin from the ultrasound probe. This makes it nearly impossible to use current portable ultrasounds for injuries such as burns or shrapnel wounds, where applying skin pressure on the patient isn’t viable. Additionally, current technology can be complex to use, too large for portability, and mostly comes with a high price tag.
BLUESHIFT creates new ways to examine injuries without contacting the patient, vastly improving on current triage and battlefield technologies. BLUESHIFT stands for Bi-directional Laser Ultrasound Enhanced System Using Holographic Imaging for Treatment.
BLUESHIFT uses a laser to produce non-contact ultrasound, eliminating the need for skin contact both when depositing the energy and reading the ultrasound waves. It is a compact, lightweight, and portable – designed to fit a standard breast pocket. It provides simple and intuitive analyses and costs half the price of the current portable ultrasounds used by U.S. special forces. BLUESHIFT uses innovative optics and AI, capable of scanning wound in under 5 seconds, in the form of a more rugged device.
BLUESHIFT is not only well-suited for in-field military use, but could be adapted for emergency first responders, EMTs, and paramedics, as well as in triaging patients more quickly, providing valuable injury information long before a patient reaches a hospital or clinic. The rugged, portable devices will increase access to life-saving technology across the emergency responder field.
Key Features
- No patient contact or gel/water required for imaging
- Rugged design
- Compact, lightweight, and portable with the dimensions of a cell phone
